Family stories and research stories that tell the tale of my personal research. If you have a similar family line or want to know more. Please contact me!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Shearers out of Ashe Co., NC

I’ve always researched the Shearer family out of
curiosity. My step grandfather has been
gone for over 20 years and while I can’t share the information with him, I do
the research in honor of him. My grandpa
Gwen did not have an easy childhood or easy life. His father was a harsh individual who could
be quite cruel so there was little in his childhood to rejoice about. Gwen’s mother, Nettie, did her best to
protect her sons and give them the love that they needed and all three of her
sons loved and took care of their mother for her entire long life. When you look deeper into the family history,
there are some interesting similarities between my grandmother and step
grandfather’s family history.

Grandpa Gwen’s father was Floyd David Shearer who was born
in Pataha, Garfield Co., WA on 1 Sep 1881 to Jesse Green Shearer and Mary
Crumpacker. There were three children in
his family, but the youngest died at the young age of two. Jesse Green Shearer died at the age of 33
years old in what I presume might have been a sickness or farming
accident. Since he died 29 Jan 1888, I
lean more towards the sickness. Mary
remarried about year later to Thomas Perrin Earl and had five more children
with him. Jesse Green Shearer was one of
17 children. His father, Joel Sturges
Shearer, was married four times to Mary Farmer on 11 Aug 1840, then Emily Jane
Tyler on 11 Aug 1849, then Mary Boling on 23 Nov 1854 and lastly to Luvisa
Elkins on 23 Oct 1862. All but his last
wife preceded him in death. Joel was
born on 11 Mar 1823 in Ashe Co., NC to William Shearer and Anna Reece. I found this to be a very interesting
similarity to my grandmother’s family.
Her grandfather, John Dula Dollar was also born in Ashe Co., NC. Ashe Co., NC today has a population of about
28,000 people and is by no means a base for a large population, but I continue
to be surprised at how many families seem to originate from this area.

William Shearer and Anna Reece left Ashe Co., NC sometime
before 1850 as they are in Page Co., IA.
They live out the rest of their lives there, but their son Joel still
has some places to go. Joel marries Mary
Farmer probably in Ashe Co., NC but they leave fairly soon after their marriage
for Nodaway Co., MO where their first two children are born and Mary dies in
1848. Joel must have taken his two
children to stay near his parents, because he married Emily Jane Tyler in Page
Co., IA in 1849. There they have 5
children in five years and as Emily Jane Tyler dies about the same time as her youngest
son, I presume that she might have died either in childbirth or shortly
thereafter. Joel marries another woman
about 6 months later, Mary Boling in Nodaway Co., MO. If you look at a map, Nodaway Co., MO and
Page Co., IA are neighboring counties in different states. Mary Boling also has four children in a short
amount of time. She dies in 1862. Joel marries a widow, Luvisa Elkins Bridgewater for the last time in
1862 in Pottawattmie Co., IA. By 1865,
they are heading west with their large family.

Joel Shearer’s family is located in 1870 in Forest Grove,
Washington Co., OR. In 1880 he is at Columbia,
Washington Territory. Most likely, this
last location is actually around what is today, Garfield Co., WA near present
day Pomeroy. Joel Sturges Shearer died on 16 Aug 1890 at
Pataha, Garfield Co., WA and is buried at the Pataha Flat cemetery located just
above Pomeroy on the hill.

There is still a lot of research that has to be done on this
family…I don’t spend a lot time on them, but every once in while I go through
and find new data and add new information to the family. I doubt that my grandparents knew that their
families came out of the same small county in North Carolina. I think if they had known, they would have
spent more time visiting the area. I
know they were there in 1957 visiting family because my mother remembered it. Grandpa Gwen probably had no idea that his
great grandfather was born there and his ancestors had lived there for a few generations.